Following nearly 8,000 lightning strikes that set more than 800 wildfires across Northern California, a meterologist is predicting much worse conditions throughout the rest of the fire season.
Thousands of firefighters battled the blazes this week from the ground and air. The lightning-caused fires have scorched tens of thousands of acres and forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes, though few buildings have been destroyed, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
From San Francisco to Los Angeles, cities have only seen a tiny fraction of the rainfall they normally receive at this point in a typical year. In the Central Valley, the cities of Sacramento, Modesto, Stockton and Red Bluff have recorded their driest March-to-May periods since at least the 19th century, according to the weather service.
The biggest fire burning in California started more than two weeks ago in a remote region of the Los Padres National Forest in southern Monterey County. That 91-square-mile blaze was about two-third contained Tuesday.
The weather service has said more dry thunderstorms could strike Northern California later the week of June 22-28, 2008.
Several wildfires also were burning in New Mexico, where about 150 children were evacuated from a youth camp southeast of Albuquerque as a blaze in the Manzano Mountains closed in.
The weather service has said more dry thunderstorms could strike Northern California later the week of June 22-28, 2008.
Several wildfires also were burning in New Mexico, where about 150 children were evacuated from a youth camp southeast of Albuquerque as a blaze in the Manzano Mountains closed in.